


What I Would Have Done (Was There Any Other Way?)

by flipflop_diva



Category: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes - Suzanne Collins
Genre: Angst, Backstory, Friendship, Implied Relationships, M/M, Missing Scene
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-24
Updated: 2020-07-24
Packaged: 2021-03-04 20:29:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 700
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25492381
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/flipflop_diva/pseuds/flipflop_diva
Summary: Marcus is on the run. Maybe it's Sejanus' fault after all.
Relationships: Marcus/Sejanus Plinth
Comments: 1
Kudos: 24
Collections: Juletide 2020





	What I Would Have Done (Was There Any Other Way?)

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Aurae](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Aurae/gifts).



_Marcus was on the run._

These were the moments Sejanus Plinth wished he was more like his friend Coriolanus Snow. Coryo never got emotional about anything, even when the world was falling apart at his feet. He was always able to look calm and cool and professional.

Sejanus … well, Sejanus was not.

“You wear your heart on your sleeve, my boy,” his Ma always said to him, pinching his cheek and kissing him on the forehead and making it sound like it was a good thing.

But Sejanus knew it wasn’t a good thing, no matter how many times she told him it was. Especially now. Now when what he knew could get Marcus killed, and probably himself too.

He closed his eyes and inhaled through his nose. Maybe they would think he was just upset his Tribute escaped. After all, every mentor wanted to win the Hunger Games, right? And if his Tribune had just vanished into thin air, then he couldn’t win, and thus he would be upset, right?

And it wasn’t like Sejanus had given Marcus a map. Honestly, how was he to have known someone set bombs off in the arena? How was he to have known that what he had said, as a sort of wishful thinking, as a sort of apology to Marcus for how they ended up here in the first place, would become a game plan for reality? There was no way he could have known, right? And people would believe that, right?

Sejanus dropped his head into his hands, remembering the last time they had seen each other.

_“I wish it didn’t have to be like this,” he had said to Marcus, who still wouldn’t talk to him. He still barely even looked at him, and when he did, Sejanus could see the disgust and the contempt in his eyes. “If I could get you out of there, I would,” he had continued. “My father told me there are tunnels underneath the city. I bet you could hide in them.”_

He shouldn’t have said it, even if he had been thinking it. He should have kept his mouth shut and concentrated on giving Marcus a different game plan. He should have …

Sejanus lifted his head once more to take in the Capitol News coverage of the manhunt for the boy who had once changed his life.

They had only been five years old. Best friends since birth. Growing up next door to each other. Always sneaking off to play no matter how much their fathers had forbade it.

Sejanus didn’t know what it felt like to have siblings, but he suspected it felt like how he felt for Marcus.

And then his father made him say goodbye.

_“Where are you goin’?” Marcus had stared at him with those big, wide eyes, dirt streaked across his face and his clothes. He had wanted to go running with Sejanus, but Sejanus had just shaken his head and pointed to the boxes in the doorway of his home._

_“Ma and Father say I gotta go,” he told Marcus._

_“You coming’ back?”_

_“Ma and Father says I can’t.”_

_Marcus’ face fell. “But who am I gonna play with?” he asked._

_Sejanus had shrugged. “I don’t know,” he said._

His Ma had called for him then. He had stared at Marcus, wanting to say more, wanting to tell him he didn’t want to go, wanting to tell him he wanted to stay with Marcus and maybe he could just hide in Marcus’ house for the rest of his life.

But he didn’t. Instead he had turned around and ran to his Ma, like the coward he had always been.

Like the coward he was now. Watching his once-best friend about to fight for his life and only wishing Marcus would talk to him, would smile at him, would touch him. Falling asleep and dreaming of Marcus and what could have been if they weren’t district-born and if his parents hadn’t made them move.

So much what could have been instead of what was.

Sejanus kept his eyes trained on the Capitol News as the tears finally escaped his eyes. He didn’t bother to brush them away.


End file.
